In 1981, Jacobs -- an obscure Syracuse product -- performed so well in training camp and the preseason the Browns opted to cut longtime kicker Don Cockroft. But coach Sam Rutigliano sensed trouble from almost the moment Jacobs stepped on the field for his first regular-season kick.

“It looked like he had swallowed a grapefruit,” Rutigliano said. “It was over. The pressure was just too much for him.”

Jacobs converted just four of 12 attempts in five games, even missing an extra point, before the Browns signed Matt Bahr.

Two decades later, the franchise allowed the popular Dawson, 38, to sign with San Francisco via free agency. Rutigliano knows what awaits the winner the Bogotay-Shayne Graham competition this summer. On opening day, the old coach hopes the only thing he sees in the new kicker’s throat is his Adam’s apple.

“The pressure is going to be enormous,” Rutigliano said. “Phil was loved here and I think we might miss him in November and December.”

Bogotay understands he can’t manage fan expectation. He realizes his strong local ties – his father grew up in Euclid and his uncle’s family still lives in the area – won’t spare him boos should he botch kicks at FirstEnergy Stadium.

“I’m not trying to replace Phil Dawson,” Bogotay said. “You can’t replace Phil Dawson. He’s a great dude, he’s a legend. What he has done here is amazing. ... I can just focus on what I do and be the best I can be.”

Bogotay is more than just a training-camp leg. It’s believed the University of Georgia product will get a fair shot against the 35-year-old Graham, a veteran of 12 NFL seasons.

After years of recycling kickers, the league is giving new meaning to going green. The Super Bowl champion Ravens turned to 23-year-old Justin Tucker last season. The Vikings reached the playoffs with Bogotay’s college teammate, 22-year-old Blair Walsh, who was the only rookie to earn All-Pro honors last season.

Could Bogotay become the NFL’s next young kicker to succeed?

“We brought Shayne in to bring some competition to the position,” coach Rob Chudzinski said prior to the draft. “We’ll continue to look at the kicker position to see where we can go with it and who is going to get it. We'll also be looking for other guys out there."

The coach didn’t rule out keeping both kickers to start the season as Bogotay was a kickoff specialist at Georgia.

“We’ll just have to see when it gets down to the time to decide between a kicker and another position player,” Chudzinski said.

Bogotay drew little interest from NFL coaches a year ago. Hardly a surprise given his three collegiate field-goal attempts while playing behind Walsh. He spent 2012 working with kicking coaches and earning money landscaping, hauling brush, digging trenches and chopping down trees. For a kid who dreams of making a living with his feet, he showed no aversion to getting his hands dirty.

The extra funds helped pay for kicking lessons in his native San Diego and Arizona.

Bogotay likens the place-kicking motion to a golf swing: It’s all about consistency, repetition and smoothness. Former NFL special teams coach Gary Zauner, who tutored Bogotay in Arizona, said his pupil has made tremendous progress.

“Brandon needed to become better ball striker,” Zauner said by phone. “We’ve got him to control his power. Let his foot do work: better flight, straighter, not worried as about distance.”

Zauner held a March 26 kicking combine attended by 20 NFL teams.

“Nobody knew that much about Brandon and he stood out over everybody at camp,” said Zauner, who coached for the Vikings, Ravens and Cardinals. “There were four or five teams that wanted to sign him.”

But the coach grooming Bogotay to be next kicker in Cleveland admits he was “astounded” by the Browns’ decision to let Dawson walk.

“I have no idea why they would get rid of such a great kicker,” he said.

Zauner, however, said he’s seen other franchises make similar choices -- going with a younger kicker on a rebuilding team. The Ravens tinkered with the idea of jettisoning former Browns kicker Matt Stover, he said, before deciding against it.

“(Art) Modell probably would have shot us if we had gotten rid of him,” Zauner added.

Bogotay is anxious to compete against and learn from Graham. Two months ahead of training camp, he assumes nothing about the competition. He will, however, have at least a few fans in his corner as he kicks through the exhibition games. His uncle Ron Bogotay lives in Mentor.

“They’re excited,” Bogotay said. “They are ready to get in the Dawg Pound and go crazy.”

For the past 14 years, the performance of the Browns kicker was the one constant when it came to generating cheers. It’s up to either Bogotay or Graham to keep alive the tradition – a unenviable task that could put a lump in anyone’s throat.

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